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Gwythaint
These vile dragons were the first ever created, their design forming the template for all species which came after. Gwythaints trace their ancestry back to Zoor’Ztsh, the First Dragon and right hand of Oblivion. Their flesh is the essence of darkness and blight, their breath a ruinous tide of disease. Out of all the creatures of flesh, these primordial tyrants are the closest to attaining the purity of perfection. The earliest orcish texts have recorded the existence of these frightful champions of darkness, indicating that they were spreading their taint throughout Thaelis-Y’Arda long before the first humanoid species was conceived in the minds of the 44 trolls. Gwythaint - Social Structure Although these dragons revel in the spread of chaos, illness and discord, they they have an intra-species society that is strictly organised in a pyramid structure similar to that of many religions. At the bottom of this social order are the gwythaints of least ability, typically the youngest individuals. These dragons patrol the lands of Naen, acting as surveyors and scouts for their superiors and reporting back to them at regular intervals of time. These youngsters have permission to wreak whatever havoc through disease and slaughter that they please. The younger dragons answer to older individuals, typically their parents. It is common for each elder gwythaint to preside over two to four of its offspring. These older dragons in turn answer to their own sires and gwythaints of truly unfathomable age who have existed since the time before Time. These ancient rulers of Mikhul Delvin are said to serve Zoor’Ztsh directly and have been the masterminds behind many calamities throughout the ages. In addition, gwythaints of all age categories correspond with warlocks of similar standing in the armies of Oblivion, sharing forbidden knowledge obtained through centuries of demonology. Since the Shadow Scourge, few remain among the living who understand that while some other dragon species are more individually powerful, the gwythaints are an entire breed which acts as a cult, each individual co-operating directly or indirectly with every other to bring an end to all light and life. Those who do in fact comprehend the existential threat these dragons pose work tirelessly to warn others before it is too late to save creation. Gwythaint - Diet Gwythaints are generalist carnivores, but they prefer the taste of thoroughly rotten flesh infested with disease. They can also consume obsidian if other food is in short supply. Gwythaint - Population It is thought that over 200 of these dragons exist. It is feared that over 15 of these are individuals over 6000 cycles old. Gwythaint - Image These horrible dragons resemble great reptiles which stand on two squat, powerful hind legs that support a hideous torso spilling over with thick black scales. Terrible, curved talons sink hatefully into the earth but instead yearn to bury themselves in tender flesh. Atop the gwythaint’s body sits a grotesque head that is little more than a razor-sharp maw adorned with backward-sweeping, spiked or sickle-shaped horns. Hooked teeth line the beast’s jaws and a horrid lolling tongue occasionally uncoils to taste the air. The dragon’s eyes are small and baleful and glow with a sickly yellow light as it observes lesser creatures with disdain and contempt. Quill-like spines bristle behind the gwythaint’s head and extend down its spine to where leathery, pitch-dark wings unfold like curtains of unclean shadow. These powerful appendages sport vicious, claw-like hands which allow the dragon to walk of all fours like a giant, monstrous bat. Behind the dreadful entity a long, spiny tail whips restlessly back and forth, as if impatient for victims to smite and crush into bloody stains. An aura of horror and perversion accompanies the presence of a gwythaint wherever it treads, and entropic vapours emit from its open mouth and from between its scales. The air around it hums with a hollow frequency and carries the stench of gangrenous wounds, decomposing bodies and deer musk. The tenebrous scales and unwholesome, deathly appearance of the gwythaints has led to their being referred to as “black dragons” and “shadow dragons”. The bleak, harrowing call of a gwythaint is said to be so disquieting that those who hear such a sound are forever changed, as if a small part of their soul has been irrevocably touched by eternal sorrow and impotent rage. Gwythaint - Relations Gwythaints consider themselves vastly superior to all other species of dragons, and with the proud verethras all but expunged from the world, they feel like they are without a doubt the kings among dragonkind. During the Second War of Light and Darkness, These dragons tempted the kulshedras into aiding them in their war against the verethras, promising to reward them with the Sun’s golden blood. However, it could scarcely be said that these two breeds have a close relationship, as the vain fire dragons are almost as egotistic as the gwythaints. The lack of fear the kulshedra show their kind leads many gwythaints to wish retribution upon them, but most know better than to tackle them in open combat. The negafooks who rule over the frozen wastes to the south of their domains know not to challenge their havens even when the snows advance north during Frost’s Fall. Perhaps the gwythaints’ greatest enemies in modern cycles are the wyverns, many of whom allied themselves with the verethras in prior conflicts. The two species rarely encounter one another, but such run-ins invariably result in violence. Among the humanoid species, gwythaints have a grudging respect for the kiasyd after observing their prowess in battle and devotion to Annihilation during the Shadow Scourge. Most other children of Darkness such as ogres and goblins are seen only as useful tools to be manipulated and then cast aside. The acheri created by their own divine father are left unmolested, but the dragons hold a bitter resentment towards these dracoids for sequestering so much of Zoor’Ztsh’s attention which they believe should be reserved purely for themselves. Gwythaints view all creatures of flesh with universal disdain, but their greatest fury is reserved for the solfar, ameret and of course the surviving unicorns that still fight against the encroaching night with all their remaining tenacity. Gwythaint - Location Gwythaints are found almost exclusively within the Troxian Mountains, including the giant spire known as Mikhul Delvin, which is rumoured to be the birthplace of these dark dragons. The cave networks and underground vaults which lie beneath this craggy range contain hundreds of lairs, each occupied by a single gwythaint. Occasionally these dragons fly out into foreign lands on some errand ordained by the Court of Darkness, but most remain in their cavern homes, slowly gathering their armies for the time when Creation will finally come to an end under a storm of fever-laden talons. It is rumoured that a select few gwythaints have made their scum-encrusted lairs within forgotten regions of Daakas. Gwythaint - Religion(s) These dragons are loyal to their creator to a degree which renders them almost unquestioning of his judgement. The overwhelming majority of gwythaints worship Zoor’Ztsh or Oblivion, regarding most other divinities as unworthy of their attention. So concerned are these beasts with the cleanliness of darkness that only a couple have ever turned their reverence towards Amarok, and have kept their devotion a secret. Some of the oldest gwythaints have agendas to ascend to claim a crown of divinity for themselves, gathering fanatical cultists around them to amplify their growing spiritual power. Like demons, these dragons know well the abhorrent nature of Thaelis-Y’Arda, and none question for an instant that that which is, must be unmade. Gwythaint - World View The world and all who dwell within it are a grave insult to our heritage. Destroy them - destroy them all. Gwythaint - Personality All gwythaints are brutal, scheming and remorseless creatures. Of all the breeds of dragon, this species is the most arrogant and megalomaniacal, for they know that all others are mere pale imitations of their own magnificent image. Gwythaints are psychopathic and have no regard for those they quash in pursuit of their dark designs or for simple amusement. They acknowledge the truth that these insects were never intended to be and therefore have no right to life or happiness. The emotion of love is as incomprehensible as it is to any demon. Despite their deeply spiteful and sadistic personalities, each of these dragons has an ambivalent relationship with its own parent. While parent and offspring are bound to each other by instinct and common loyalty to the cause of Annihilation, the younger dragon knows that its parent stands between it and its own greater glory, and no gwythaint willingly allows one of its children to surpass its own station in the hierarchy of Darkness. The cthuloid mind of a gwythaint is more alien than that of any other dragon. Unlike some dragons, gwythaints care nothing for amassing treasure and utterly abhor gold. Material wealth is simply one more illusion which must ultimately be unmade by the Outer Darkness, and all opulence is cheap and pitiful when compared to a gwythaint’s immaculate image. Nothing pleases these macabre creatures more than watching entire communities of sapient creatures suffer as they die a slow death from plague. Some theologians theorize that the bottomless hatred these dragons harbour stems from a deep-seated inferiority complex; although almost one with the demons which infest their bodies, every gwythaint knows that it is still a base creature confined by the prison of flesh, never able to truly attain the purity of shadow. The sheer horror of this realisation drives these dragons to blind fury – woe betides anyone who reminds one of these beasts of its own limitations. Gwythaint - Athanc A gwythaint’s Athanc is a huge black diamond which pulses with a dark glow while the beast lives. Black diamonds are extraordinarily hard to procure due to the tremendous hazards associated with harvesting them. Even the Athancs of dead gwythaints have scarcely been discovered or mined, for almost all of them lie within the mountains surrounding the Black Spire itself – a dangerous region in its own right without even considering the fact that it is inhabited by the majority of the world’s living gwythaints. Items incorporating these alluring yet blasphemous gems are highly offensive to the followers of the divinities of Light. Gwythaint - Reproduction Like all dragons, gwythaints are sexually hermaphroditic and reproduce asexually by two methods. The first involves the dragon speaking words in Tartarian while letting its own blood, which invokes a mystical process by which the spilled essence becomes a horrid species of pseudodragon known as a gannog. True draconic reproduction involves the gwythaint shaving off a fraction of its Athanc. Once removed, this fragment of the gwythaint’s heart must immediately be interred within a mound of rotten bodies which died of disease, where it becomes an egg over a period of one chain. Once the new Athanc has encased itself it begins developing a new dragon infant, which takes over a cycle to form completely. Once this period of time has passed, the baby gwythaint gnaws its way free from the egg, ravenously hungry. Gwythaints watch closely over their eggs, knowing that the creation of another crusader of Darkness is a task of utmost importance, and immediately begin indoctrinating the hatchlings in the teachings of Zoor’Ztsh and Oblivion. Young dragons stay with their parent until they have completed their theological education, at which point they strike out on their own to aid in the annihilation plan, reporting back to their sire periodically to share emergent intelligence. While the parental bond gwythaints cultivate is not at all one of love, it is one of strained respect. Of all the species of dragons, gwythaints are the least likely to assume the forms of other species, viewing such an action as a debasement of their fundamentally superior nature. For this reason, there have been no reliably documented gwythaint scions, although the clergy of Sorin-Sam insist that when King Saam Vintoras locked blades with Mikhalinn during the final days of the Shadow Purge it was revealed to him that Oblivion’s second avatar was one such being. Gwythaint – Lairs Gwythaints prefer caverns and sunken grottoes as locations in which to create their lairs. Here, the dragons can bathe in the pervasive darkness during the daylight hours, far from the sun’s hateful rays. Some dragons also make their homes within the ruins of decaying fortresses or kingdoms brought down long ago by their hideous breath. The subterranean chambers inhabited by gwythaints are devoid of treasure, for the creatures have no interest in amassing wealth and loathe coins crafted from the sun’s blood. Gwythaints foment social corruption wherever they tread. Depraved creatures such as goblins and Black Scale kiasyd accumulate at their lairs to worship these dragons like flies gather on dead flesh. These cultists offer blood sacrifices to their monstrous patron and engage in ritualistic fights to the death to settle disputes and appease their master’s ire. The sapient minions of these sociopathic sadists usually occupy the area immediately around their dragon’s lair, and live in fear of brutal death as gwythaints are known for their murderous impulses. The demented followers of these dragons who are not themselves warlocks are little more than distractions for the gwythaint’s foes and food for its appetite for debasement and torture. Gwythaint – Tactics These dragons prefer to slowly kill their victims using their plague-laden breath, watching from afar as innocents writhe and degenerate over the course of days. However, when a more significant threat is encountered, gwythaints are quick to use their claws to behead and disembowel those who dare challenge their might. A gwythaint targets the weakest foes first, aiming to kill them in swift and grisly fashion so that their friends will be overwhelmed by horror. Once this has been achieved, the creature focuses all its attacks upon a single foe at a time until all who face it are dead. Foes who flee upon either seeing the dragon’s horrible form or when defeated are usually blasted with demonic breath so that they may carry diseases back to their homes and families. If a gwythaint is accompanied by its minions, it treats them as utterly expendable, caring not for any losses suffered by their number. So great is the bloodlust of a raging gwythaint that it will often tear its own followers apart in a frenzy. If a gwythaint is somehow defeated, it will bargain for its life, but will not willingly serve anyone who does not outrank it in the hierarchy of Darkness. Compulsive liars, these dragons will violate any deal made with its foes as soon as it sees a chance to reassert its dominance in the future. Gwythaint – Creation Story When the world was new and shone in its intolerable blasphemy, Zoor’Ztsh, the first Dragon, made pilgrimage to the unholy mountain Oblivion had raised from the underworld to serve as a beacon to all those who would make right the terrible wrong that had been done by Time. Making his nest within Mikhul Delvin’s deepest vaults, he divided his Athanc and the first thirteen gwythaints were hatched. It is believed that at least three of these original shadow dragons, Akurathear, Azidahaka and Eribonyxtaliff, persist to this day. Gwythaint – Language Tartarian and Wyrmish Gwythaint – Names Most gwythaints take first names in the tongue of demons, Tartarian. In addition, they commonly take a number of surnames which are actually passages and phrases taken from Oblivion’s holy text, Becoming the Adversary. First Names: Chaetul-Morug, Kathmotnaelin, Faurmauth, Malefiscei, Namdak-Futh, Otulkau, Shuvirktis, Vaeliang, Vorlianth, Waumdualduc Surnames: · Ildra y’khatt delyk elvand xtaiz sayvghax (“Let the blood of the cowards flow as the water”) · Kalst orkvort lorrachk ia asbiak (“There can be no truth without pain”) · Inejalek ashpyerh iak mosxk esh orxcik (“And the Darkness rained upon them”) · Ashlraxk ia rext dvork kelxrad orsdand (“Silence covereth thee and thy name”) · Tastkalc ia belbigthn aszh kot dxirr (“One who ushers forth chaos and disorder”) Gwythaint - Benefits Species-Granted Fortes: * Conditioning (Life Force) * Insight (Emotions) * Meditation (Fear) Skill Familiarities: * Academics (History) * Intimidate * Occult (History of Magic) * Occult (Warlocks) * Theology (Dragons) These dragons have Bite, Claw and Tail Slam Attacks which deal damage which varies depending on the creature’s Status/Age category (See Table x). Gwythaints are invulnerable to disease and poison, and can cast rituals from the darkness precept using their Status as Caster Status. They can see perfectly in pitch darkness. Exhale the Winds of Plague – ''All gwythaints have a breath weapon which infests those caught within with demons which cause dreadful illnesses. Victims caught within the exhalation of writhing blackness must roll Conditioning (Disease) against the dragon who rolls and adds its Status, VIG Rating and Hate score. Each victim that loses the contested roll becomes diseased. Each day the disease damages the victim’s VIG score by the dragon’s Status or any value lower. The gwythaint chooses the virulence of its breath weapon each time it uses it, and all caught by a single breath make their individual rolls but suffer the same amount of VIG damage should they lose the roll. The oldest gwythaints can produce fevers so intense that they claim the lives of victims in a single day, but if they feel unthreatened they will often choose to prolong the victim’s suffering by diseasing them with a lethal but slower-acting strain of demon. ''Frightful Presence -: All who look upon the horrendous form of a gwythaint must roll Meditation (Fear) against the dragon’s contested Intimidate roll or succumb to a mind-numbing horror, If the victim loses the contest they flee (if of lower Status than the gwythaint) or take a penalty to all rolls equal to the gwythaint’s Status for the rest of the scene. A dragon’s allies, warlocks, demons and other gwythaints are not affected by its Frightful Presence. District of Misery – ''So unnatural is the nature of a gwythaint that its presence twists and corrodes the territory it occupies for any significant period of time. The effects a gwythaint has on its environment are listed in Table x. '''Gwythaint - Weaknesses' These dragons have hypersensitivity to gold and cannot handle it under any circumstances. Gwythaints are slightly debilitated by sunlight; daylight and certain light-precept Rituals give these dragons a -1 penalty on all rolls relying on sight, and all sight perception rolls are reduced by -2. Love is utterly alien to a shadow dragon’s psychology and it can never take points in that passion. Born of cosmic hatred itself, gwythaints must start with at least one point of Hate. These dragons dislike fire but suffer no special penalties from it.